I have so many thoughts about my trip, but those will come in a later post. I'm just now coming out of my week-long jet-lagged FOG I've been in. Geez, I don't know if it's my age, because I was by myself, or what, but I have wanted to do absolutely nothing but sleep the past 7 days. Thankfully, I am feeling much better.
Desi and I left Hong Kong around 11:00 Friday morning (Dec. 9th). We made it into Chicago 13 1/2 hours later. She slept the first hour of the trip and then the last 3 hours:-( The 9 hours in between were not necessarily our best. The poor guy sitting beside us drank alcohol the entire trip home. I guess maybe that's a good indication of how things went:-) There were a couple of times I thought about asking him to share!!! LOL
After landing in Chicago we made an easy trip through Customs/Immigration. Those guys were so very, very nice. Welcome to America:-) Afterwards we gathered our luggage to recheck and then found our gate. There were a couple of other families from our flight there also and so we waited together and let the girls play. All was well with our wait until Desi decided to smack one of the other little girls with a ball. As I attempted to put her in timeout, that's when it happened. Our first cry:-( Actually, it was more of a complete and total meltdown. She screamed so loud she actually cleared out the gate (except for the other adoptive families). I tried everything to calm her down to no avail. I finally had to take her into the bathroom and wash her face. I think the walk calmed her down and she was finally ok.
She went to sleep about 2 hours before our flight left for Little Rock and then she slept the entire flight home. Once we arrived at the airport it's kind of a blur. I think the stress of the entire two weeks came out when I got to the top of the escalator and seen Devan, Jordan and Jenna. Of course, Jenna was already crying:-( I can't even begin to describe the feeling of FINALLY being home. I missed my family SO VERY MUCH!!!! After lots and lots of pictures from Devan's college friends and the other adoptive families there that came to welcome Desi home, it was time for home. HOME!!!! What a wonderful, wonderful place:-)
The first thing I did when we got to the house was love on my puppies. Yes, I missed my doggies too:-) I think they might have actually forgotten me but it wasn't long until they were all over me. LOL
We were up until around 11:00 that night because the girls were all playing together. I was ok just sitting on the couch and having a sense of normalcy. Normal and boring.....sounds GREAT to me:-)
Since coming home Desi has gone from waking up 8 times a night to sleeping ALL night. My champion sleeper has returned and that's a good thing. She has adjusted better than we could have ever expected. She still isn't real fond of the dogs but at least she will allow them to be in the same room with her and has started petting them instead of smacking them every time they get close to her. She's also having more to do with Steve. At first she would turn her head away from him. Now she's talking to him and bringing him his water cup:-) Baby steps.
Of course, she LOVES and ADORES her sisters. There is some sibling rivalry between she and Jenna but it's not anything we didn't anticipate. Jenna is regressing in age a bit by wanting to play with toys that she hasn't even looked at in years. Here again, not unexpected. Overall, I think we're in a pretty good place. I'm glad that the girls will be here with her 24/7 over the holidays so she can continue bonding with them. I think being around our other family will be good for her too. I am worried though that she is going to have a warped sense of what this whole family thing is all about for a while. I mean, 5-star hotels and breakfast buffets for the first two weeks, Christmas presents and big family meals the next two weeks. She probably thinks she's won the lottery!!!! LOL December 26th reality will set in. We'll see what she thinks about us after that:-)
As always, I am adding some pictures. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Ours has the added blessing of our precious Desi. We feel so very, very blessed this year.
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